Art Carter to Weigh the ‘Unique Position’ of MLSs at RISMedia CEO & Leadership Exchange

California Regional MLS (CRMLS) CEO Art Carter

There was a time when “tech” and “innovation” were buzzwords in real estate. Now, they’ve become imperatives in an industry slowly but surely embracing the possibilities, including the potential uses of housing data.

That data, which is collected and curated daily by real estate professionals and stored on MLS platforms, has fueled new efficiencies and proptech platforms that have risen over the years, but that may only be a fraction of a much larger conversation that California Regional MLS (CRMLS) CEO Art Carter will delve into this September 5 – 7 at RISMedia’s CEO & Leadership Exchange, held at the historic Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.

A panelist in the discussion titled, “How Portals Are Changing the Real Estate Playing Field,” Carter notes that the growing demand for housing data presents a unique opportunity for MLSs to serve real estate professionals and consumers better.

“The MLS stands in a unique position within our brokerage community,” he says. “Whether or not there’s been headwinds or some (folks) that would want to characterize the relationship between MLSs and brokerages as being rocky…it’s not. It’s still an essential tool.”

Carter points to the fact that MLSs need to transition away from just being repositories of listing information to being housing-information repositories.

“The one thing that this industry has never done a good job of is streamlining the process of germinating leads into real customers, technologically-wise,” he says.

All eyes have been on the more prominent portals, which have worked relentlessly to turn real estate into a data-centric, automation-driven, ad-revenue-focused business.

However, the recent launch of Nestfully—an MLS collaborative consumer portal launched by CRMLS and Bright MLS—offers a different take on what the portal space could be for consumers and practitioners alike.

“There’s always going to be a place for a portal,” Carter says. “That being said, the broker and agent still need to be in control of the transaction, and I think the consumer has shown by their behavior that there’s still a high level of desire to work with people.”

In a sector where players are looking to monetize leads, Carter says that Nestfully will be a more broker- and agent-centric business model and carve out its niche.

“The more we can give brokers and agents access to some of that intelligence long-term, the more it bodes well for the MLS to be in a unique position no matter what these other outside entities do,” he says.

While some may view the growing embrace of tech in home buying and selling as an existential threat to the industry, it may actually be the opposite. As more consumers prefer to use agents, Carter says that the relationship is stronger than ever.

“Social media has a big play in that,” he says. “Millennials are actually happier and more likely to be engaged with a real estate professional outside of the buying process than other generational groups.”

Carter continues, saying, “I think it bodes well that especially the buyers that are going to be such a big part of the future going forward are already developing those relationships, and the thing that we’ve got to do in organized real estate is give brokers and agents the tools to enhance those relationships.”

RISMedia’s 35th Annual CEO & Leadership Exchange will gather the industry’s top minds to discuss the most critical trends and issues impacting the year so far, and outline strategies for success in the fourth quarter and into 2024. More than 100 brokerage executives and industry experts featured in over 25 panel discussions and presentations will help you make sense of what’s transpired so far in 2023, and share tangible advice for defining your own destiny moving forward.

For the complete agenda and speaker lineup, please visit our event page. Space is limited, so reserve your spot today.

2023 RISMedia CEO & Leadership Exchange sponsors include:

Title Sponsor

RE/MAX

Diamond Sponsors

Real Estate Webmasters
Realty ONE Group
Colibri Real Estate

Master Sponsors

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
Bright MLS
Buffini & Company
Constellation1
CoreLogic®
EXIT Realty
Inside Real Estate
Lone Wolf Technologies
NAR REACH
National Association of REALTORS®